October 21, 2025 • 24 mins
Cowboys play-by-play voice Brad Sham joins the program, talking about Brian Schottenheimer's direct approach to the media, Javonte Williams' massive breakout, and why former Lonhgorn DeMarvion Overshown's return could galvanize a struggling Dallas defense.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The zone.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Okay, the reason why we came back with this song,
this one by the Beatles. I call you to hear
the cow bell in the background, not the one I
have here, but this is an example of what we're
talking about on a cow bell contest log. Worn's play
at Mississippi State this Saturday, and the fans, of course,
are armed with cow bells, and we want to know
what is the best song with a cow bell excluding
(00:23):
Don't Fear the Reaper because of the Saturday Night Live skit,
So no, Don't Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult.
But the best cow bell song and the best entry
on our talkback feature will win a pair of tickets
to the Texas Vanderbilt game.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
So we'll do that, all right.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I'm gonna go back to the NFL and talk the
Cowboys with a friend, mentor and my boss for seven
years up in Dallas, the play by play voice of
the Cowboys, and you hear him on our FM ninety
eight point one fmcavep with every Cowboys game. Brads him
joins us, I'm going to ask you something I've never
asked you before. In all the years I've known you,
I've never asked you this.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
When you were.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Growing up in the Chicago area in the sixties, was
your family into the Beatles.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
I don't think my parents were.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
They watched I mean, you know, they watched Ed Sullivan,
so they they were very musical. They were very much
into music. But my mother loved opera, and they both
liked show tunes, and they both liked popular music. I
don't remember them being into the Beatles when you were
(01:33):
growing up then, And I was in high school in
the mid sixties, so you pretty much had to make
a choice between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and
I picked the Beatles, and so I never had really
cared for the Stones very much.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I like that kind of went that way as well.
My brother's all one with the Stones as well. It's
good of his with you, and I appreciate you taking
a few minutes the.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
You know.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
I listened to.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Brian Schottenheimer's press conference and somebody, actually it was it
was the Jerry Jones radio here, and there's a marked
difference obviously between those two, but there's somebody asked Jerry
if this offense was as good as he has seen
in a while, and he said yes, and he said,
this is exactly what we had in mind when we
(02:25):
brought Brian in to do that. Was it kind of
what you thought could definitely be the case with this
offense once he took the reins.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
That not that day, but one of the first things
he said, and he said it at his introductory press conference,
was that you know we're.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Going to run.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
I want to be I want to run. And I
felt pretty I was pretty convinced that Dak was totally
bought in with him. If Dak had preferred Kellen Moore
and then Kellen Moore could have been the head coach.
My feeling and understanding was that Dak really was more into,
(03:06):
bought into what Schottenheimer wanted to do. So from that day,
you know, we all heard what he said, but McCarthy
said the same thing as well, but he just didn't
mean it, and so Schottenheimer has meant it. And the
thing that I think is impressed is Schottenheimer in conjunction
with Kendall Adams, the offensive coordinator who's been the offensive
(03:32):
line coach in Phoenix for a couple of years and
was his I think it was with the Cooleston They've
got a unique perspective along with Connor Riley, who was
the offensive line coach at Kansas State. So the three
of them together kind of put that running game together
and shot the passing game is what Schottenheimer has been
(03:54):
wanting to do. We wouldn't have had any way to
really know that, Craig, but Schottenheimer was ready to call
plays again as he had done previous in his career.
And if McCarthy had stayed, then Shottenheimer was leaving because
McCarthy was going to call a play. And I think
they've kind of figured out as they had their conversations
that Shottenheimer had something that they really could tap into.
(04:19):
So I can't say I expected it. I am extremely
pleased with what they've done for two reasons. One, it's
working and he is doing what he said he would do.
But the real the key thing to me is I
mean for two of the two of the last three years.
(04:39):
I don't know if it was the case in twenty one,
but in twenty two, twenty three, and also last year,
their offense got off to a very sluggish start, and
it was either twenty two or twenty three that before
their by CD, Lamb was complaining not in a way
that would make you a nuisance, but in a way
(05:02):
that people knew, hey, you know, and what am I
out here for? I'm not getting the ball. And then
in twenty three and twenty four before thatk got hurt,
they just were not on all cylinders offensively, and this
year they were from the beginning. So my estimation is
(05:25):
that what Schottenheimer is doing is much more in sync
with the players that he has than what McCarthy did
offensively for the last couple of years. I know the
numbers that Dak put up at twenty three and MVP
and blah blah blah, and they were great numbers. He
had a great year, but they didn't start off like
a great year. This one has been pretty functional from
(05:47):
the beginning. The only thing about them that's been pretty
functional from the beginning. But I think that that's I
don't know efvernybody knew what to expect. But it impresses
me that Schottenheimer said what he meant and then meant
what he said.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Well toward that end.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
And I remember, obviously back in the day when I
was with you up in Dallas and was covering those
press conferences out at Valley Ranch and Tom Landry is
always great to tear from him, but you know he
had his style away obviously, Jimmy Johnson had his Barry
Switzer certainly. That is My question was going to be,
how far back do you have.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
To go to.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Hear from a head coach of the Cowboys who is,
as I guess, is upfront and I'm even going to
use the word refreshing, I guess, But but it's mainly
because it's just so different than what we've heard in
a while. How far back do you have to go
to to find the Cowboys.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Coach like that?
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah, that is a really good question. That's a really
good question. I have to sit here and think back
because one thing that has always struck me about these guys,
and a few of them I have asked about it directly,
is why they are the way they are with the media,
(07:09):
and most of them are different. I don't know if
you find this at Texas, but most of them are
different with the media than they are. That is to say.
When I say with the media, I mean especially at
press conferences in front of TV cameras. They let down
their guard a little when the cameras aren't there for
some reason, even though things that they say are on.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
The record, But.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Like even Jason, you know, Jason Garrett still a dear friend,
and I was friends with him from what he was
a player here. But he told me one he was
clearly trying to be friendly and outgoing, but he was
more than guarded. And he told me once that he
learned from Nick Saban when he worked for Saban at
(07:57):
the Dolphins that the the approach that Saban took was,
I am I see nothing that benefits me by saying
anything that won't help me win. I mean, Wade Phillips
just didn't trust the media. You know, Dave Campo probably
(08:17):
was guileless, but he didn't have a lot to work with.
I mean, Parcels played him like a fiddle.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
Now, if you go all the way back to.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Landry, then it's a different era. It's the whole relationship
is different as time goes on. Now, we like even
Schottenheimer has his little quirks. He reminds us a little
more than uncomfortable with about how authentic he is.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Even though I do think he is authentic.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
My experience with him away from the public glare is
that he is the same way. I just would like
to hear him remind us of that a little less,
and he has as much as you can from day one.
And this has been the big thing that surprised me.
He's answered questions. I mean, as you well know, most
(09:13):
of them don't answer a question. They say words, but
they don't answer the question.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Now, he you know, as the season goes.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
On and things happen, then there are things that go
on that you can't say, and so you talk around
it a little bit. I don't think that he's done
that as a rule. I think he does it when
he has to. So I think refreshing is a really
good word, and I do think look McCarthy, after about
the second year, he really didn't like this job. He
(09:42):
didn't like all of the show, the glitz that could be.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Being the coach of the Dallas Cowboys is.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
A doable job, but it's not like being the coach
of the Colts or the Bengals.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
It's just not.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
There's stuff that comes with it, and you can succeed
if you can embrace that stuff. Mike didn't like it,
and so that came through. I thought by the fourth
year that was really clearly coming through. Then by last
year he was mad that he didn't get an extension,
and and I thought that came through. So it's a
(10:17):
whole different attitude from Schottenheimer. And it's yeah, it's been
quite a while since there was anybody who seemed to
be as at ease with it.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Yeah, this just me being around it.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
I think what you also just described as being the
head coach of the Texas Longhorns, because there's no.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Doubt, there's no doubt that hey, if you're if you're if.
I don't mean to diminish coach Farence, but if you're
the coach of the Iowa Hawkeys, the things you do
may be very well scrutinized in Clinton and Des Moines.
But it's not the same as being the head coach
of the Texas Longhorns or the head coach at Notre Dame.
(10:59):
It's just the same.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Now, you can succeed, but you.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Have to embrace all of those things. You have to
know it going in. You have to then say I
will not just succeed in spite of I will make
this part of the ubra. And I think the Shottenheimer's
done that well.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
And and what made me also think about that when
when you talked about how uh you know, McCarthy didn't
like it, Charlie Strong didn't like it, Tom Herman didn't
like it, and and the guy and the guy who's
the closest to pulling that that double off, that that
identity since Matt Brown, Mack Brown is the guy who's
doing it right now. So I think I think that's
(11:41):
that's about to fit. The CEO thing. Doesn't mean he
can't have a smart alec or snarky answer and a pressor.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
He's had his.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Share, just to Shottenheimer ask, but but it's more real
than and more embraced than those other guys.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Did I would? I'd say that your read is very
perceptive and that.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
There were a couple of things for visiting the brad
Shamboys and the Cowboys here on the program. There are
a couple of numbers I noticed on the website that
just blew my mind and I wanted to get your
life again. This is from the files of did you
Expect This? Javonte Williams seven touchdowns and seven games, tying
him with Herschel Walker and Bob Hayes for the most
touchdowns in their first seven games with the franchise.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, I mean that is one of those statistics that
it really means nothing, but it is interesting, and so
could you have expected that. No nobody knew. That's why
universally around the league they were laughed at for signing it.
Nobody thought he had anything left, and they give Will
McClay credit for that. He was the one who first said,
(12:45):
I think this guy fits what Schottenheimer's trying to do.
And if you if you ever go back and look
at any of his tape from North Carolina, I mean,
he looks like he looks like a mini earl. He's
running over people's he's punishing them. It's it's scary. And
so now now it's different. The NFL are bigger, and
(13:08):
he's had the knee injury, but he's a relentless runner
with some of the greatest patients that I've ever seen.
And I don't know how long the magic carpet ride
will play out. He's a very smart young man, very
nice young man, and you know, I hope for him
that it's able to continue for for quite a while.
(13:29):
But you couldn't have possibly seen this coming.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
On the defensive side.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Another number I saw there two sacks of both Jayden
Daniels and Marcus Mariota. Uh and for the four straight
game coming out on top of the turnover battle.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Is this defense getting better?
Speaker 2 (13:47):
It can?
Speaker 1 (13:50):
That's an unanswerable question until they play again. Yeah, I
do think that. And I'm a fan of Matt Aberflus.
I obviously knew him when he was here before. I
think he's a demonstrated, very good defensive coach. I don't
pretend to know enough to be a coach. A lot
(14:10):
of people in our business think they can do it.
I don't. But it appeared to me that he was
so married to how he wanted to play that he
made the mistake of trying to fit a square peg into.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
A round hole.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
And that is coaching one oh one people.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
Do forget, especially in the.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
NFL, when guys aren't playing in the preseason. Then come
in with a new, you know, third coordinator in three
years and it's a completely different thing and the coaches
have to learn the players. So they like he brings
Sanborne with him from Chicago because Sanborne was a pretty
effective role player for what he did with the Bears.
(14:53):
And you know, Murray I thought had his best game someday. Uh,
maybe with a little different role because Sanborne was kind
of the lead green dot lead signal caller before he
got hurt. And then when Sanborne got his concussion two
weeks ago, they put Shamar James in because he practiced well.
(15:15):
Now he doesn't always know where he's going, but he
gets there in a hurry and he hits something when
he gets there, and so that's good. And so if
if Samar James can keep a little bit of that
going and continue to improve at the rate he's improved,
and he's he's making mistakes, he's seeing things that he
doesn't see, doesn't think he sees. And but if he
(15:38):
just keeps getting better and he's on the field with
an improved Murray and in about three weeks Overshown comes back.
Now then you ask me if the defense is getting better.
But you can't say they are getting better until they
play well with some modicum of consistency. They still don't
have enough good players. I'll get you on a statistic
(15:58):
that will bend your mind. This is the one that
blew me out coming into the game. And some of
these statistics, as we all know, and it's true in
collegists as in the NFL, they don't mean what people
who quote them on Twitter think they mean but they're
guideposts their thing.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
They're interesting.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
So passes defense, Okay, that means in the NFL, it's
a league statistic, and an interception is a pass defense,
and a ball that's broken up is a pass defense.
So if a defensive tackle blocks the pass at the
line of scrimmage, that's a PD. That's a pass defense.
(16:39):
But when a cornerback is running down the field with
a guy he's watched the ball of white, that's a
pass defense. Okay. Yeah, So they went into the game
last week. Through six weeks and their cornerbacks, all of
the cornerbacks on the roster, had a total of one
pass defense and that was Ready Stewart, who was playing
(17:03):
the slot receiver at the time. No outside cornerback had
put his hands on a football in six weeks. And
now Bland had the interception, and he had another one
I think he knocked down. So now they've got two.
I mean, are you serious?
Speaker 4 (17:23):
And so they are.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
They are short in the talent pool back there. Now,
if Savan Rebel is able to come back and is
anywhere near being healthy, I guess you must have seen
him at West Virginia yep. Uh, he's supposed to be
really good. I've never seen him. I don't know, and
you know he's now he's now fighting through a knee,
(17:46):
which is they've activated his practice windows. So I think
I think that they think that Rebel and Overshown will
both be able to be back after the bye for
the road Monday night game in Las Vegas in mid November,
and that can that can do something for him. But
they're hey, their cornerbacks have been not good. Diggs has
(18:08):
been playing not well. Bland wasn't really healthy. I thought
last week, forget the interception, I thought it was his
best game. He looked confident, he was running pretty well.
They're outside cornerbacks just have not been very good. And
that's that keeps me from answering, Yes.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
Their defense is getting better the players, but they if
they are.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
In fact going to consistently put the players in better
positions to fit the talents. And Clowney had his best game,
so maybe he keeps that going a little bit. They
still don't have enough good players on that side of
the ball. But has been written and spoken endlessly the
last few weeks, especially, they don't have to leave the
(18:54):
league if they can be average. With the offense they've got,
they can win some games. They just haven't been. They've
just been as bad as the offense has been good.
That's the problem.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
By the way, for what it's worth, we had Demarvian
Overshown on the On Sark Show last week. Demo says
he'll be back in a couple of weeks. He's he's
all fired up about it.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
I had him, you know, I do a Monday night
show with a player, and we had him on the
first one this year, and oh my god, the the
vibes just and you know it, but way better than
I do. But the vibes just emanate from this guy.
You know. It always has tickled me, Craig when when
a player announces that he is the leader. If a
(19:37):
player ever announces that he is the leader, he is
not the leader.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
And the players who are the leaders never have to
say the word. They never say it. And I promise you,
from the minute he walks on the field, the Maarvion
Overshown will be the guy who they followed. He'll be
the guy who to whom they gravitate, and who's practice
habits and whose effort in the game and the way
(20:05):
he plays, and that will he'll be the leader and
he'll never tell you that because he doesn't have to.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Right, I'll let you go with this.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
I need your help on the quote from that from
that famous that you had locker room SoundBite tape slash
CD that's made its way down through files through the years.
Reggie Jackson did the quote go, you need to do
a better job of asking the question that you want
(20:38):
answered in order to get me to give you the
answer of something like that.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
I was trying to remember, Well, I think it was.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
I think it was our friend Art Haynes, to whom
he said that it was. Am I right about that?
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Yeah, because that's when he followed about you can take
your microphone and your glass.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Take your microphone and your glasses, and.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
Then he needed to tell Art what.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
He could do with all of those things, all of
which were.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
Physically impossible even.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
With exaggerated surgery even then.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
So but yeah, I mean, I think I think about right.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
It comes up in my mind a lot when I
hear a lot of the questions that get asked of
Sark or the players, and all I'm thinking to myself
is Reggie Jackson, Reggie Jackson, you got to do a
better job of asking the question you want ask I
think it is in order to get me to give
you the answer you want or something like that.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
It's it's it's like.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
A guy who is the guy who would be who
would get my vote as the coach most likely to
say the football coach most likely to say that right
now would be Brian Kelly.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
I mean he's been right there several times in postgame
press conferences this year of doing exactly that. Why don't
you ask me? But he's not in a nice way.
He's the one I nominate.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Yeah, I second it. Hey, it's always great to visit.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
I appreciate you taking the time and look forward to
seeing you down the road.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
And visiting with you again.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
Me too.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Hook him, thank you? All right. That's Brad Champion.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Yeah, yeah, And he was a voice of the Longhorns
nineteen eighty nine and nineteen.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Ninety the h.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
The eighty eighty nine and eighty nine ninety season Gause
or eighty nine, ninety and ninety ninety one seasons.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Okay, yeah those are that's my dad's freshman year.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Really yeah, yeah, Okay, Well that's that's when Brad did
the Longhorn games. He did, and of course he's been
doing the Cowboy games all but I think it was
a three year span when he was doing the Rangers.
Other than that, he's done play by play on We've
been on the Cowboys broadcast in seventy six and then
in the play by play role since eighty four.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
You know what my dad told me yesterday, was it
he remembers that Texas Mississippi State game from ninety one?
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, and that and that would have
been Jerry Trupiano on the play by play with Bill
Schoning to win color. That was the one year Troop
did the play by play. Brad at that point was
not doing the Longhorns after that because the Cowboys left
went across town and wasn't Longhorn affiliate.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
So that's why that happened the way it did.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
So Trupiano did the play by play for one year
and then he left to go to the Red Sox
and Bill Schoning was doing color.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
He was the analyst, and then.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Bill moved to play by play cheer in ninety two,
and then that's when I came in as the analyst
in ninety two, and we did ten football and nine
basketball seasons together. But Troup was the play by play
voice that year, that infamous game in starkvill in ninety one,
the last time Texas played in Starkville. I say infamous
because if you know anything about what happened when they
had the the Long War and cattle gastrated there in
(24:03):
the locker room, Jackie Sheryl did that.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
Yeah, yeah, this is news to me.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yeah yeah, I was to get his players attention, I think,
could show them what they plan to do to Texas.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Yeah he did. Okay, he did that, created messaging. Yep.
That's when he was coaching Mississippi State.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Do you imagine that happens today with all the five
K cameras they have in the locker rooms.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Probably wouldn't happen, to say nothing of animal rights folks
and other folks getting after because there was there was
some hub up about it even back then, back in
ninety one. I was the studio anchor that day because
I was the studio anchor from eighty eight through ninety one,
so I was the studio anchor the day of that game,
that Texas Mississippi State game. All right, more, we're coming
up here on sports Radio Am thirteen under the zone
in the iHeartRadio app
The zone.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Okay, the reason why we came back with this song,
this one by the Beatles. I call you to hear
the cow bell in the background, not the one I
have here, but this is an example of what we're
talking about on a cow bell contest log. Worn's play
at Mississippi State this Saturday, and the fans, of course,
are armed with cow bells, and we want to know
what is the best song with a cow bell excluding
(00:23):
Don't Fear the Reaper because of the Saturday Night Live skit,
So no, Don't Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult.
But the best cow bell song and the best entry
on our talkback feature will win a pair of tickets
to the Texas Vanderbilt game.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
So we'll do that, all right.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I'm gonna go back to the NFL and talk the
Cowboys with a friend, mentor and my boss for seven
years up in Dallas, the play by play voice of
the Cowboys, and you hear him on our FM ninety
eight point one fmcavep with every Cowboys game. Brads him
joins us, I'm going to ask you something I've never
asked you before. In all the years I've known you,
I've never asked you this.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
When you were.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Growing up in the Chicago area in the sixties, was
your family into the Beatles.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
I don't think my parents were.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
They watched I mean, you know, they watched Ed Sullivan,
so they they were very musical. They were very much
into music. But my mother loved opera, and they both
liked show tunes, and they both liked popular music. I
don't remember them being into the Beatles when you were
(01:33):
growing up then, And I was in high school in
the mid sixties, so you pretty much had to make
a choice between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and
I picked the Beatles, and so I never had really
cared for the Stones very much.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I like that kind of went that way as well.
My brother's all one with the Stones as well. It's
good of his with you, and I appreciate you taking
a few minutes the.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
You know.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
I listened to.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Brian Schottenheimer's press conference and somebody, actually it was it
was the Jerry Jones radio here, and there's a marked
difference obviously between those two, but there's somebody asked Jerry
if this offense was as good as he has seen
in a while, and he said yes, and he said,
this is exactly what we had in mind when we
(02:25):
brought Brian in to do that. Was it kind of
what you thought could definitely be the case with this
offense once he took the reins.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
That not that day, but one of the first things
he said, and he said it at his introductory press conference,
was that you know we're.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Going to run.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
I want to be I want to run. And I
felt pretty I was pretty convinced that Dak was totally
bought in with him. If Dak had preferred Kellen Moore
and then Kellen Moore could have been the head coach.
My feeling and understanding was that Dak really was more into,
(03:06):
bought into what Schottenheimer wanted to do. So from that day,
you know, we all heard what he said, but McCarthy
said the same thing as well, but he just didn't
mean it, and so Schottenheimer has meant it. And the
thing that I think is impressed is Schottenheimer in conjunction
with Kendall Adams, the offensive coordinator who's been the offensive
(03:32):
line coach in Phoenix for a couple of years and
was his I think it was with the Cooleston They've
got a unique perspective along with Connor Riley, who was
the offensive line coach at Kansas State. So the three
of them together kind of put that running game together
and shot the passing game is what Schottenheimer has been
(03:54):
wanting to do. We wouldn't have had any way to
really know that, Craig, but Schottenheimer was ready to call
plays again as he had done previous in his career.
And if McCarthy had stayed, then Shottenheimer was leaving because
McCarthy was going to call a play. And I think
they've kind of figured out as they had their conversations
that Shottenheimer had something that they really could tap into.
(04:19):
So I can't say I expected it. I am extremely
pleased with what they've done for two reasons. One, it's
working and he is doing what he said he would do.
But the real the key thing to me is I
mean for two of the two of the last three years.
(04:39):
I don't know if it was the case in twenty one,
but in twenty two, twenty three, and also last year,
their offense got off to a very sluggish start, and
it was either twenty two or twenty three that before
their by CD, Lamb was complaining not in a way
that would make you a nuisance, but in a way
(05:02):
that people knew, hey, you know, and what am I
out here for? I'm not getting the ball. And then
in twenty three and twenty four before thatk got hurt,
they just were not on all cylinders offensively, and this
year they were from the beginning. So my estimation is
(05:25):
that what Schottenheimer is doing is much more in sync
with the players that he has than what McCarthy did
offensively for the last couple of years. I know the
numbers that Dak put up at twenty three and MVP
and blah blah blah, and they were great numbers. He
had a great year, but they didn't start off like
a great year. This one has been pretty functional from
(05:47):
the beginning. The only thing about them that's been pretty
functional from the beginning. But I think that that's I
don't know efvernybody knew what to expect. But it impresses
me that Schottenheimer said what he meant and then meant
what he said.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Well toward that end.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
And I remember, obviously back in the day when I
was with you up in Dallas and was covering those
press conferences out at Valley Ranch and Tom Landry is
always great to tear from him, but you know he
had his style away obviously, Jimmy Johnson had his Barry
Switzer certainly. That is My question was going to be,
how far back do you have.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
To go to.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Hear from a head coach of the Cowboys who is,
as I guess, is upfront and I'm even going to
use the word refreshing, I guess, But but it's mainly
because it's just so different than what we've heard in
a while. How far back do you have to go
to to find the Cowboys.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Coach like that?
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah, that is a really good question. That's a really
good question. I have to sit here and think back
because one thing that has always struck me about these guys,
and a few of them I have asked about it directly,
is why they are the way they are with the media,
(07:09):
and most of them are different. I don't know if
you find this at Texas, but most of them are
different with the media than they are. That is to say.
When I say with the media, I mean especially at
press conferences in front of TV cameras. They let down
their guard a little when the cameras aren't there for
some reason, even though things that they say are on.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
The record, But.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Like even Jason, you know, Jason Garrett still a dear friend,
and I was friends with him from what he was
a player here. But he told me one he was
clearly trying to be friendly and outgoing, but he was
more than guarded. And he told me once that he
learned from Nick Saban when he worked for Saban at
(07:57):
the Dolphins that the the approach that Saban took was,
I am I see nothing that benefits me by saying
anything that won't help me win. I mean, Wade Phillips
just didn't trust the media. You know, Dave Campo probably
(08:17):
was guileless, but he didn't have a lot to work with.
I mean, Parcels played him like a fiddle.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
Now, if you go all the way back to.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Landry, then it's a different era. It's the whole relationship
is different as time goes on. Now, we like even
Schottenheimer has his little quirks. He reminds us a little
more than uncomfortable with about how authentic he is.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Even though I do think he is authentic.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
My experience with him away from the public glare is
that he is the same way. I just would like
to hear him remind us of that a little less,
and he has as much as you can from day one.
And this has been the big thing that surprised me.
He's answered questions. I mean, as you well know, most
(09:13):
of them don't answer a question. They say words, but
they don't answer the question.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Now, he you know, as the season goes.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
On and things happen, then there are things that go
on that you can't say, and so you talk around
it a little bit. I don't think that he's done
that as a rule. I think he does it when
he has to. So I think refreshing is a really
good word, and I do think look McCarthy, after about
the second year, he really didn't like this job. He
(09:42):
didn't like all of the show, the glitz that could be.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Being the coach of the Dallas Cowboys is.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
A doable job, but it's not like being the coach
of the Colts or the Bengals.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
It's just not.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
There's stuff that comes with it, and you can succeed
if you can embrace that stuff. Mike didn't like it,
and so that came through. I thought by the fourth
year that was really clearly coming through. Then by last
year he was mad that he didn't get an extension,
and and I thought that came through. So it's a
(10:17):
whole different attitude from Schottenheimer. And it's yeah, it's been
quite a while since there was anybody who seemed to
be as at ease with it.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Yeah, this just me being around it.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
I think what you also just described as being the
head coach of the Texas Longhorns, because there's no.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Doubt, there's no doubt that hey, if you're if you're if.
I don't mean to diminish coach Farence, but if you're
the coach of the Iowa Hawkeys, the things you do
may be very well scrutinized in Clinton and Des Moines.
But it's not the same as being the head coach
of the Texas Longhorns or the head coach at Notre Dame.
(10:59):
It's just the same.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Now, you can succeed, but you.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Have to embrace all of those things. You have to
know it going in. You have to then say I
will not just succeed in spite of I will make
this part of the ubra. And I think the Shottenheimer's
done that well.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
And and what made me also think about that when
when you talked about how uh you know, McCarthy didn't
like it, Charlie Strong didn't like it, Tom Herman didn't
like it, and and the guy and the guy who's
the closest to pulling that that double off, that that
identity since Matt Brown, Mack Brown is the guy who's
doing it right now. So I think I think that's
(11:41):
that's about to fit. The CEO thing. Doesn't mean he
can't have a smart alec or snarky answer and a pressor.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
He's had his.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Share, just to Shottenheimer ask, but but it's more real
than and more embraced than those other guys.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Did I would? I'd say that your read is very
perceptive and that.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
There were a couple of things for visiting the brad
Shamboys and the Cowboys here on the program. There are
a couple of numbers I noticed on the website that
just blew my mind and I wanted to get your
life again. This is from the files of did you
Expect This? Javonte Williams seven touchdowns and seven games, tying
him with Herschel Walker and Bob Hayes for the most
touchdowns in their first seven games with the franchise.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, I mean that is one of those statistics that
it really means nothing, but it is interesting, and so
could you have expected that. No nobody knew. That's why
universally around the league they were laughed at for signing it.
Nobody thought he had anything left, and they give Will
McClay credit for that. He was the one who first said,
(12:45):
I think this guy fits what Schottenheimer's trying to do.
And if you if you ever go back and look
at any of his tape from North Carolina, I mean,
he looks like he looks like a mini earl. He's
running over people's he's punishing them. It's it's scary. And
so now now it's different. The NFL are bigger, and
(13:08):
he's had the knee injury, but he's a relentless runner
with some of the greatest patients that I've ever seen.
And I don't know how long the magic carpet ride
will play out. He's a very smart young man, very
nice young man, and you know, I hope for him
that it's able to continue for for quite a while.
(13:29):
But you couldn't have possibly seen this coming.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
On the defensive side.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Another number I saw there two sacks of both Jayden
Daniels and Marcus Mariota. Uh and for the four straight
game coming out on top of the turnover battle.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Is this defense getting better?
Speaker 2 (13:47):
It can?
Speaker 1 (13:50):
That's an unanswerable question until they play again. Yeah, I
do think that. And I'm a fan of Matt Aberflus.
I obviously knew him when he was here before. I
think he's a demonstrated, very good defensive coach. I don't
pretend to know enough to be a coach. A lot
(14:10):
of people in our business think they can do it.
I don't. But it appeared to me that he was
so married to how he wanted to play that he
made the mistake of trying to fit a square peg into.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
A round hole.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
And that is coaching one oh one people.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
Do forget, especially in the.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
NFL, when guys aren't playing in the preseason. Then come
in with a new, you know, third coordinator in three
years and it's a completely different thing and the coaches
have to learn the players. So they like he brings
Sanborne with him from Chicago because Sanborne was a pretty
effective role player for what he did with the Bears.
(14:53):
And you know, Murray I thought had his best game someday. Uh,
maybe with a little different role because Sanborne was kind
of the lead green dot lead signal caller before he
got hurt. And then when Sanborne got his concussion two
weeks ago, they put Shamar James in because he practiced well.
(15:15):
Now he doesn't always know where he's going, but he
gets there in a hurry and he hits something when
he gets there, and so that's good. And so if
if Samar James can keep a little bit of that
going and continue to improve at the rate he's improved,
and he's he's making mistakes, he's seeing things that he
doesn't see, doesn't think he sees. And but if he
(15:38):
just keeps getting better and he's on the field with
an improved Murray and in about three weeks Overshown comes back.
Now then you ask me if the defense is getting better.
But you can't say they are getting better until they
play well with some modicum of consistency. They still don't
have enough good players. I'll get you on a statistic
(15:58):
that will bend your mind. This is the one that
blew me out coming into the game. And some of
these statistics, as we all know, and it's true in
collegists as in the NFL, they don't mean what people
who quote them on Twitter think they mean but they're
guideposts their thing.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
They're interesting.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
So passes defense, Okay, that means in the NFL, it's
a league statistic, and an interception is a pass defense,
and a ball that's broken up is a pass defense.
So if a defensive tackle blocks the pass at the
line of scrimmage, that's a PD. That's a pass defense.
(16:39):
But when a cornerback is running down the field with
a guy he's watched the ball of white, that's a
pass defense. Okay. Yeah, So they went into the game
last week. Through six weeks and their cornerbacks, all of
the cornerbacks on the roster, had a total of one
pass defense and that was Ready Stewart, who was playing
(17:03):
the slot receiver at the time. No outside cornerback had
put his hands on a football in six weeks. And
now Bland had the interception, and he had another one
I think he knocked down. So now they've got two.
I mean, are you serious?
Speaker 4 (17:23):
And so they are.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
They are short in the talent pool back there. Now,
if Savan Rebel is able to come back and is
anywhere near being healthy, I guess you must have seen
him at West Virginia yep. Uh, he's supposed to be
really good. I've never seen him. I don't know, and
you know he's now he's now fighting through a knee,
(17:46):
which is they've activated his practice windows. So I think
I think that they think that Rebel and Overshown will
both be able to be back after the bye for
the road Monday night game in Las Vegas in mid November,
and that can that can do something for him. But
they're hey, their cornerbacks have been not good. Diggs has
(18:08):
been playing not well. Bland wasn't really healthy. I thought
last week, forget the interception, I thought it was his
best game. He looked confident, he was running pretty well.
They're outside cornerbacks just have not been very good. And
that's that keeps me from answering, Yes.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
Their defense is getting better the players, but they if
they are.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
In fact going to consistently put the players in better
positions to fit the talents. And Clowney had his best game,
so maybe he keeps that going a little bit. They
still don't have enough good players on that side of
the ball. But has been written and spoken endlessly the
last few weeks, especially, they don't have to leave the
(18:54):
league if they can be average. With the offense they've got,
they can win some games. They just haven't been. They've
just been as bad as the offense has been good.
That's the problem.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
By the way, for what it's worth, we had Demarvian
Overshown on the On Sark Show last week. Demo says
he'll be back in a couple of weeks. He's he's
all fired up about it.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
I had him, you know, I do a Monday night
show with a player, and we had him on the
first one this year, and oh my god, the the
vibes just and you know it, but way better than
I do. But the vibes just emanate from this guy.
You know. It always has tickled me, Craig when when
a player announces that he is the leader. If a
(19:37):
player ever announces that he is the leader, he is
not the leader.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
And the players who are the leaders never have to
say the word. They never say it. And I promise you,
from the minute he walks on the field, the Maarvion
Overshown will be the guy who they followed. He'll be
the guy who to whom they gravitate, and who's practice
habits and whose effort in the game and the way
(20:05):
he plays, and that will he'll be the leader and
he'll never tell you that because he doesn't have to.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Right, I'll let you go with this.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
I need your help on the quote from that from
that famous that you had locker room SoundBite tape slash
CD that's made its way down through files through the years.
Reggie Jackson did the quote go, you need to do
a better job of asking the question that you want
(20:38):
answered in order to get me to give you the
answer of something like that.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
I was trying to remember, Well, I think it was.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
I think it was our friend Art Haynes, to whom
he said that it was. Am I right about that?
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Yeah, because that's when he followed about you can take
your microphone and your glass.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Take your microphone and your glasses, and.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
Then he needed to tell Art what.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
He could do with all of those things, all of
which were.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
Physically impossible even.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
With exaggerated surgery even then.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
So but yeah, I mean, I think I think about right.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
It comes up in my mind a lot when I
hear a lot of the questions that get asked of
Sark or the players, and all I'm thinking to myself
is Reggie Jackson, Reggie Jackson, you got to do a
better job of asking the question you want ask I
think it is in order to get me to give
you the answer you want or something like that.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
It's it's it's like.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
A guy who is the guy who would be who
would get my vote as the coach most likely to
say the football coach most likely to say that right
now would be Brian Kelly.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
I mean he's been right there several times in postgame
press conferences this year of doing exactly that. Why don't
you ask me? But he's not in a nice way.
He's the one I nominate.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Yeah, I second it. Hey, it's always great to visit.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
I appreciate you taking the time and look forward to
seeing you down the road.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
And visiting with you again.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
Me too.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Hook him, thank you? All right. That's Brad Champion.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Yeah, yeah, And he was a voice of the Longhorns
nineteen eighty nine and nineteen.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Ninety the h.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
The eighty eighty nine and eighty nine ninety season Gause
or eighty nine, ninety and ninety ninety one seasons.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Okay, yeah those are that's my dad's freshman year.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Really yeah, yeah, Okay, Well that's that's when Brad did
the Longhorn games. He did, and of course he's been
doing the Cowboy games all but I think it was
a three year span when he was doing the Rangers.
Other than that, he's done play by play on We've
been on the Cowboys broadcast in seventy six and then
in the play by play role since eighty four.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
You know what my dad told me yesterday, was it
he remembers that Texas Mississippi State game from ninety one?
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, and that and that would have
been Jerry Trupiano on the play by play with Bill
Schoning to win color. That was the one year Troop
did the play by play. Brad at that point was
not doing the Longhorns after that because the Cowboys left
went across town and wasn't Longhorn affiliate.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
So that's why that happened the way it did.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
So Trupiano did the play by play for one year
and then he left to go to the Red Sox
and Bill Schoning was doing color.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
He was the analyst, and then.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Bill moved to play by play cheer in ninety two,
and then that's when I came in as the analyst
in ninety two, and we did ten football and nine
basketball seasons together. But Troup was the play by play
voice that year, that infamous game in starkvill in ninety one,
the last time Texas played in Starkville. I say infamous
because if you know anything about what happened when they
had the the Long War and cattle gastrated there in
(24:03):
the locker room, Jackie Sheryl did that.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
Yeah, yeah, this is news to me.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yeah yeah, I was to get his players attention, I think,
could show them what they plan to do to Texas.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Yeah he did. Okay, he did that, created messaging. Yep.
That's when he was coaching Mississippi State.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Do you imagine that happens today with all the five
K cameras they have in the locker rooms.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Probably wouldn't happen, to say nothing of animal rights folks
and other folks getting after because there was there was
some hub up about it even back then, back in
ninety one. I was the studio anchor that day because
I was the studio anchor from eighty eight through ninety one,
so I was the studio anchor the day of that game,
that Texas Mississippi State game. All right, more, we're coming
up here on sports Radio Am thirteen under the zone
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